Civil Municipal Magazine - Nov 2023

48 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 County Commissioner Blake Elsberry expounds on one of the ways Chattooga is achieving this, saying, “We’re addressing the shortfall in high speed internet access by doing a $10 million broadband project. This project will increase the fiber footprint in Chattooga County and give access to high-speed internet to about thirty-four hundred people that previously did not have internet.” The project is being funded partially via the Georgia Broadband Grant for $3 million. The remaining $7 million needed for the project will be funded by Windstream–the private company providing the county with its internet service named Kinetic. So, fortunately, Chattooga hasn’t had to dip into any county funds to get this much-needed project underway. Chattooga County also applied for and was awarded $1 million in CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds to